


“I Don’t Need Your Protection.”

by miss_romantic



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
Genre: Angst, Apologies, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, ik how it ends but still, let’s just assume this semi diverges from canon after ds arc, still haven’t finished the show so, tbh idk when this happens in canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-13
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-08 02:00:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,642
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26997853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/miss_romantic/pseuds/miss_romantic
Summary: Carly wants to learn how to Turbo Duel, but Jack worries doing so will trigger her memories of being a Dark Signer.
Relationships: Jack Atlas/Carly Nagisa
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This wasn’t originally going to be angsty but pain train here we go

Jack awoke to sunlight leaking through his window. He rolled in the opposite direction, not wanting to leave his bed. Throwing the covers over his face, he grumbled to himself about how the sun was coming up too early.

Well, he guessed there was ONE good thing about getting up early. It was the one time he’d actually be able to wake with Carly laying next to him. Carly, the madwoman she was, was an early riser. Jack was pretty sure he’d woken up at 4 am multiple times just to see her tapping away at her laptop on her desk. It made him kind of mad, because in those kinds of situations, he couldn’t get a few morning kisses in. Or more than a few, preferably. So, he wasn’t surprised when he reached for Carly’s side of the bed and didn’t find anything. Disappointing, but not unexpected.

Bleh, he couldn’t get back to bed now that he knew the sun was out. He got up and stretched, then combed his fingers through his hair. Next he made his way to the kitchen, not bothering to put only anything besides some comfy pajama pants and a t-shirt. If Carly was home she wouldn’t mind, and if he was on his own, it wasn’t like he really had to keep up appearances for anyone. And he wasn’t leaving the house for another few hours since most of his duels were scheduled at midday or at night.

“Morning,” Carly’s voice called. Jack perked up, but only a bit. First: need. Coffee. That was the only way he could have any energy at this godawful hour.

Honestly. One could liken the coffee machine to a holy grail or something. To be fair, it wasn’t Blue Eyes Mountain, but it was better than nothing.

“Already got you covered.” Carly was sitting at the coffee table, holding up a mug with some cheesy phrase on it he was too tired to read. 

He couldn’t decide if those mugs were stupid or so-bad-it’s-good. They did their job, regardless, so he couldn’t bring himself to care too much. A mug was a mug, and he guessed Carly had a point in that plain ones were boring.

He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, then took the mug. But something was a little wrong when he took a sip.

“Did you drop the salt into this again?”

She pressed her lips together. “Mayyyyybe.”

He exhaled a spurt of air through his nose, a half laugh. “Should’ve seen that coming,” he said, then kissed her softly. “Remind me to tell you to make up for it later.”

“Still too sleepy right now?” He lightly shoved her shoulder. “Well, drink up, because I gotta tell you something pretty big.”

“Hm?” He took another sip and cringed, but forced himself to continue. Hopefully there’d be less salt at the bottom. And besides, he wanted to be able to fully understand whatever the “something was.”

Carly brushed her hair behind her back. “You good now?”

“Mmmhm.”

“Okay then.” With a huge grin, she announced, “Jack, I’m gonna learn how to turbo duel.”

Jack had to stop himself from immediately spitting out his drink. “But Carly, you can barely have a standing duel.”

He would love nothing more than to have a Riding Duel with her, but memories of her as a Dark Signer hung like heavy shadows over the idea. What if riding a D-Wheel triggered her own memories? 

He’d made sure not to keep any secrets from her, even including the fact that she died. If he had kept some, she’d pry and pry and look into dangerous things until she found out on her own. 

Knowing things secondhand wasn’t half as painful as actually living them.

Outside of his gloomy thoughts Carly pouted. “Mean.”

Jack frowned. How was he supposed to express to her why he didn’t want her to learn how to turbo duel? He knew it should be her choice as to whether or not she wanted to remember or whatever, but keeping her happy was more important.

“Sometimes, I swear you love Wheel of Fortune more than me. I mean, it has a NAME, for God’s sake.”

“That’s not—“

She flipped her hair. “I wasn’t asking for your permission, anyway.”

If she was going to listen to a thing he said, he’d have to introduce a valid rationale. And his worries were definitely more than just valid. “If we hadn’t had a Riding Duel when you were a Dark Signer, I’d completely support you. But what if somehow your memories get triggered? Are you going to risk it?”

“I...” she bit her lip. “I didn’t realize.”

“To some extent, I’m glad. I just wish...Damn it.” His grip around the mug tightened enough to turn his knuckles white. “This one of the few things I don’t want to take chances on. I hate that I’m ruining this for you, but I don’t know what else to do.”

“I get it. But there has to be some kind of other way, right? And maybe I won’t remember. You never know unless you try.”

Jack wished with all his heart that she wasn’t so stubborn.

“One time couldn’t hurt, I think. And they’re my own memories.”

She didn’t know any better, and that made him happy, but she was going to keep on throwing herself in danger’s way until it was too late.

His fist struck the table. Carly’s eyebrows raised, and she backed away from him a bit. “Can’t you see I’m trying to protect you?” He snapped. “You say that you want to do this to get closer to me, but that’s exactly what you wanted to do in the past, and all that did was get you killed!”

“Jack—“

“If you care about your well-being, you won’t even consider TOUCHING a D-Wheel. That’s FINAL.”

He could tell he was really worrying her, but he couldn’t stop his feelings from pouring out. He needed to emphasize how much he cared.

“I’m sorry you feel that way, but as I said, I was never asking for your permission. I’m the one that was a Dark Signer, not you. You need to to move on, got it? And lastly, I don’t need your protection.”


	2. Chapter 2

OPPONENT LP: 0

“What a comeback! Jack Atlas scores yet another win!”

Jack slowed to a stop the second the counter hit zero. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

The mc’s voice didn’t usually hype or bother him, but right now, Jack really wanted to make him shut up. He couldn’t take his energy right now.

He could barely even plaster on a fake smile. His wave felt halfhearted when he was finally allowed to leave the stadium.

“Mr. Atlas?” asked someone behind him. He ignored her. He wasn’t in the mood for talking.

“Mr. Atlas,” she repeated.

Still, he didn’t react. However, he could feel his patience thinning fast.

“Mr. At—“

“What the hell do you want?” he shouted, spinning around. 

The girl bothering him looked like a young reporter—an intern, likely. She held a cheap-looking camera in his direction. He could tell she was scared of his outburst. Made sense, as right now he was probably looking mad as hell. Yet she persevered and asked him a sole question.

She was brave for continuing to badger him. “Why did you start dueling again after your big defeat in the Fortune Cup and your Satellite controversy?”

That was easy.

“So far I haven’t found any articles on it that have come from an actual interview with you.”

Without Carly, what would he have left? Would he have ever gotten over his bitterness from his first loss? Would he have even tried to smooth out tensions between him, Yusei, and Crow? She wasn’t the only thing that motivated him, no, he had other wants and dreams, but she’d been the stepping stone he’d needed when he hadn’t had anywhere to go.

What had he done?

He wouldn’t be able to stop her, no matter how much he wanted. There was only one thing to do then: support her every step of the way. Maybe, if she had him by her side, she’d get to experience dueling the right way, not under the power of some evil god. He had to find her right away, before she got hurt and the rift between them grew. No way was he losing her ever again. The tension between them had only lasted less than a day, but it had already cut into his heart. He hated being in this awful mood, and making up would be the only way to heal it.

“Have you seen a girl with weird-looking glasses and an orange vest?”

The young reporter frowned. “Answer my question first.”

“I have more important things to do.”

She exhaled a spurt of air through her nose. “What are they?”

“Fixing a shitty mistake and making things right.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ik, short af chapter, sorry


	3. Chapter 3

Incessant knocking forced Yusei to stop what he was doing. He wiped some of the sweat off of the back of his forehead with the back of his hand, and got up to answer to door. He opened it to see, to his surprise, Carly. He didn’t know her well, so he knew she had be here for something related to Jack.

“I want to learn how to Turbo Duel.”

Double unexpected. He’d never felt like she wanted to actually get involved with dueling. She seemed like she enjoyed observing from the sidelines more. But he wouldn’t stop her if she wanted to. And he was sure Jack would be ecstatic about it. However, one thing didn’t make sense. “That’s great! But why’re you asking me and not Jack?”

“It’s a surprise,” she responded quickly.

He didn’t quite believe her. She’d answered too fast, and it seemed like she really needed his help. From what he’d heard, she ask for help unless she was trying to achieve something she couldn’t do on her own.

So, he decided to ask, hopefully not sounding like he was suspicious of her, “Okay, then, why do want to learn? Is it because you want to do something special for Jack? If you’re only learning for him, it’s not worth it, in my opinion.” She wilted, and he added, “Not that I want to discourage you! I just think it should be something YOU really want to do, not someone else getting you to. You shouldn’t make yourself do something you don’t want to do because of someone else. That’s just my opinion, though.”

“Thanks, anyway.” She started to walk away.

He opened the door wider to follow her.“Wait!” he called. “It’s not my place, and we don’t really know each other that well, but if there’s anything going on between you two, you can tell me. I’ve dealt with his BS basically all my life.” He cracked a small smile, hoping he hadn’t ruined things with her. 

Without turning back to face him, she said, “Has he always been so afraid of bad things happening to other people?”

Yusei could feel his brows furrow in confusion. “Not really, no.”

She spun back. “What makes me so special, huh? He’s freaking out over stuff that already happened and it’s kind of pissing me off.” Her hand flew to her mouth. She cursed under her breath, or at least that was what it sounded like.

“You don’t have to tell me any more if you don’t want.” He rested his hand on the front of his door.

“Nah, it’s too late to not. Can I come inside?”

“Sure,” he said, opening the door even wider.

He led her to the main room, then gestured to his coffee table and couch. “Feel free to sit down anywhere.”

“Thanks.” She took a spot on the couch. “You’re right that I wanted to learn how to Turbo Duel for Jack, and I don’t think I would have considered it had we not met. I’d never been interested in dueling at all, really. I only ever used my deck for fortune telling. So now I don’t know if I’m interested because of him or not. Before I became a Dark Signer, I know for sure I only wanted to duel because he did it and I could get him to notice me.” She propped her elbow on the arm of the couch and rested her head on her fist. “But afterward, dueling suddenly felt like something I needed to do. Not for him, but for myself. I have no idea if it’s some kind of side effect and if Jack’s right in that my memories would get triggered. But then, what’s the big deal if I do? I already have a general idea of what I did, so it wouldn’t be something completely new, you know?”

That was a hard one. “You and him are fighting because he doesn’t want you to remember, then.”

She nodded.

“In that case, I can’t help you.” Yusei frowned. “I have no idea how much of a risk you could be taking. But if you never take it, you won’t feel fulfilled.”

Another nod.

“Could you live firsthand knowing what you did under the influence of an Earthbound Immortal?”

“I’m not sure. I can’t tell if what I did really was so bad that I shouldn’t remember it at all costs or if he’s just trying to keep me safe because he’s being overprotective.”

“Well, think about it. What did he say you did?”

She stared at the ceiling. “Supposedly, after Divine killed me, I tried to kill him back. I know that summoning an Earthbound Immortal would require a huge sacrifice, so I already have who knows how much blood on my hands. Other than that, I didn’t do much else. And I know my actions weren’t completely my own, so…I don’t know how many times I’m gonna say ‘I don’t know,’ but, like, ugh.”

Hm. “Did you say how you felt to him before he got mad?”

She smiled a guilty grin. “No.”

“Jack can get stuck in his head a lot. You probably know that, but still. Give that a try. He’s awful to stay in a long-term fight with.” Yusei smiled. “Maybe you can find a solution when you two are calmer.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate endings


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another tiny chap bc I can’t write scene changes

Jack wrung his hands before opening the door. The hell were they so sweaty? Well, he guessed he’d wash them later. No matter. He twisted the handle with a tentative “Hey.” No response.

He hoped with everything he had that she hadn’t left to do something dangerous on her own. That she wasn’t home because she was covering some scoop.

“You home?”

Nothing. Well, he’d just call her, then.

He’d dialed Carly’s number plenty of times. It wasn’t difficult to type in her number and talk to her. So why did it feel like a struggle? Whatever. This was the only way things could work out right now.

“Jack?” Carly responded fast, thank goodness.

He didn’t want to have to apologize for something that made complete sense to be said. The only thing he had to actually apologize for was how he snapped at her. But, still, he said, “I’m sorry. So. Um. If you really want to learn how to Turbo Duel, I want to be with you every step of the way. To make sure things don’t go wrong.”

“Really?” He couldn’t tell what sort of emotion she was feeling through her tone. “And you’ll be cool with it?”

“…Yeah.” Not very. The anxiety of her getting hurt was still very much on the table.

A pause. “I’m scared, too. But I can’t stand not trying what I for some reason feel have to do.”

Hm. “Are you coming home soon?”

“Mmhm. A little work can wait.”


End file.
